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1. With reference to its previous observation, the Committee notes with satisfaction the adoption of Resolution No. 783 of 14 April 1992 by the Ecuadorian Social Security Institute (IESS) to amend section 97 of its codified statutes under which, in conformity with Article 4, paragraph 1, of the Convention, the period of the payment of cash maternity benefits has been extended to 12 weeks in accordance with Article 4 of the Convention. It also notes the Government's statement that this resolution applies both to women workers covered by the compulsory social insurance scheme, including domestic personnel, as well as women workers protected by the peasants' social insurance scheme.

2. Article 3, paragraph 4, and article 5, paragraph 2. In reply to the Committee's previous comments, the Government states that proposals to bring the national legislation into conformity with these provisions of the Convention and with national practice have been submitted to the National Congress on several occasions, but were not adopted when Act No. 133 of 21 November 1991 was enacted to reform the Labour Code. The Government states, however, that it will continue to urge the legislative authority to re-examine the question as rapidly as possible. The Committee is therefore bound once again to hope that the Labour Code will be supplemented by provisions explicitly providing that in the event of a late confinement the leave before the presumed date of confinement shall be extended and the period of compulsory leave to be taken after confinement shall not be reduced on that account, in accordance with Article 3, paragraph 4, of the Convention, and that interruptions of work for the purpose of nursing are to be counted as working hours and remunerated accordingly, in accordance with Article 5, paragraph 2.

3. Article 5, paragraph 1. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee recalls that, following the revision of section 156 of the Labour Code by Act No. 133 of 1991, the provision authorizing a mother working in an enterprise of 50 or more workers to interrupt her work in order to nurse her child was eliminated. On this subject, the Committee notes the communication of 27 February 1992 of the Ecuadorian Confederation of Free Trade Unions (CEOSL) concerning the application by Ecuador of Conventions Nos. 103 and 131, in which it points out that the elimination of the above provision is a violation of Article 5, paragraph 1, of Convention No. 103.

In its report, the Government indicates that this provision was eliminated due to the fact that it was not applied in practice, since the general custom is for mothers, during the first nine months following the birth of their child, to prefer to benefit from a reduced working day of six hours, using the two hours' reduction to nurse and tend to their child. It adds that the redistribution of the reduced working day is in accordance with the provisions of the collective agreement, the internal rules or agreement between the parties, under section 156 of the Labour Code, and that this reduction in working time does not result in a reduction in wages. While noting this information, the Committee wishes to draw the Government's attention to the fact that under section 156 of the Labour Code, as amended, the right to a reduced working day is only granted to women working in enterprises which do not have a crèche and in principle does not concern women working in enterprises with 50 or more workers which are obliged to provide child care facilities. The Committee therefore trusts that the Government will not fail to take the necessary measures to introduce into the legislation an explicit provision providing that women working in enterprises with 50 or more workers which have child care facilities have the right to interruptions of work for the purpose of nursing of sufficient duration, in accordance with Article 5, paragraph 1, of the Convention.

4. In its previous comments, which it has been making for many years, the Committee expressed the wish to be provided with information concerning the scope of the social insurance scheme. Since the Government's report does not contain a reply on this point, the Committee once again requests the Government to provide statistical information on the number of women workers in an employment relationship who are protected by the compulsory social insurance scheme and the peasants' social insurance scheme as a percentage of the total number of women workers in industrial enterprises and in non-industrial and agricultural work (including women wage-earners working at home). Furthermore, it hopes that the Government will be able to supply information on any new extension of the scope of the social insurance scheme so as to cover all the categories of women workers referred to in Article 1 of the Convention.